Google Maps

Google is reportedly in talks to acquire Waze, a popular Silicon Valley mapping startup that gets its information by crowdsourcing from users. Waze, which has managed to grab a loyal following in a market filled with giants that include Apple, Google and Nokia, is also talking with other suitors, including Facebook, according to Bloomberg. Waze is hoping to become the next startup purchased for more than $1 billion, but according to the report, no company has come close to sealing the deal.

SAN FRANCISCO -- With its three-dimensional satellite imagery of the planet, its block-by-block detail of neighborhoods and its ubiquitous driving directions, Google is already the king of online cartography. Now it's looking to lengthen its significant lead by making a bid to be your personal cartographer: creating online maps that show landmarks, restaurants and other details tailored to your habits, interests and plans. A sweeping redesign of Google Maps - - the most major changes to the product since its launch eight years ago, the tech giant says - - is elevating the competition for how people navigate the world and where they stop along the way. Maps have become one of the most hotly contested areas for major Silicon Valley companies with the explosion of mobile devices.

Google Inc. upended the Internet with its search engine. It launched its own email service, made roads and highways easier to navigate, developed the world's most popular operating system for mobile devices and took a shot at Apple Inc.'s iTunes with its own Google Play store. Now the technology giant is cranking up the volume with the debut of a subscription music service that provides access to millions of songs for a monthly fee, taking on the likes of Spotify and Pandora and going after the next big wave in digital music: streaming on mobile devices.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google is holding its annual conference for software developers in San Francisco. The first of the 6,000 developers attending Google I/O began lining up at 4 a.m. PDT The Internet giant is expected to unveil new products including a new version of Google Maps, a unified messaging service and a new streaming service for music to compete with the likes of Spotify. The keynote is set to begin at 9 a.m. Follow the announcements live here. Tweets from @latimestech/live-coverage ALSO: The war for mobile messaging is on Fewer Facebook users take a liking to its new Home software On eve of Google developers conference, company is 'hot again'

Google's stock price climbed above $900 a share for the first time as Wall Street waited to hear what the company will announce later Wednesday at its annual developers conference. The stock opened Wednesday at $895.75 and continued climbing. At last check it was trading at $907.35, up $20.25, or 2.3%, from Tuesday's close. The company's shares hit the $900 mark despite CEO Larry Page disclosing Tuesday that he has had trouble speaking because of a vocal cord ailment. In a post on the company's social network Google+, Page said he remained fully capable of running the company.

Google will be giving its keynote speech at 9 a.m. PDT Wednesday at its annual developers conference. The company is expected to reveal a number of new services and products, and you can watch the whole presentation online. The Silicon Valley giant has set up a live stream for its keynote on YouTube that can be watched on this post, above, as well as on the conference's website . The keynote is expected to last about three hours. Google typically uses its Google I/O keynote to announce new products and services, and this year is no exception.

Google teams took to the stage at the company's developers conference Wednesday to announce new services, features and revamped designs that will all be rolling out soon to users. Join The Times' Michelle Maltais and me at 3 p.m. as we chat about all the news Google announced during its 3-1/2-hour keynote address. Google's announcements ranged from new tools for developers to brand-new services, such as the new Google Music All Access monthly subscription service. With All Access, users can listen to music from Google's catalog of millions of songs for $9.99 a month.

Just a day after taking to Google+ to reveal a vocal-cord ailment that has kept him out of the public eye, Google CEO Larry Page took to the stage at the Google I/O conference Wednesday and spoke for nearly an hour. Appearing before independent developers and tech reporters, Page talked about the potential of technology, keeping the industry open and the future of Google. In an unusual move for a tech company, Page also took questions from the audience to close the conference keynote.

Google has just added its 49th and 50th country to its popular Street View feature, enabling Web browsers to check out locations like the Hungarian Parliament building , the European country's Chain bridge or the largest medicinal bath in Europe, the Széchenyi thermal bath . Street View, available with Google Maps, gives users 360-degree views of millions of locations around the globe, now including those in Hungary and Lesotho....

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. is under fire from a coalition of companies including Microsoft Corp. which have called on European antitrust authorities to launch an investigation into the Internet giant's dominance on smartphones. The FairSearch group alleges Google is violating European antitrust laws by giving away its Android mobile operating system to device manufacturers on the condition that its applications such as Google Maps and YouTube be prominently displayed on devices. Android mobile software is installed on about 70% of new smartphones, making it the dominant mobile software platform around the world.